Federal court upholds drug privacy law

A federal appeals court in Boston has dealt a setback to the pharmaceutical industry and companies that collect prescription data for use in drug marketing. The court upheld the right of states to prohibit the sale of doctor-specific prescription drug data that is widely used in pharmaceutical marketing. IMS Health and Verispan sued to block implementation of a New Hampshire law which prohibited the sale of computerized data showing which doctors were prescribing what drugs.

Massachusetts officials gave final approval to regulations banning pharmaceutical and medical device companies from providing gifts to physicians, limiting when companies can pay for doctors' meals, and...

In 1993, the state Legislature adopted a law requiring drug companies to publicly report gifts and payments to doctors in Minnesota. Now, Minnesota’s law could be the first in the nation to include the...